PITTSBURGH JAZZ

 

Pittsburgh, though often overshadowed in the story of jazz by New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York, has fostered vibrant music communities and produced and supported many innovative artists that have shaped the course of American music. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Pittsburgh has fostered the development of highly reputed national and international jazz artists including vocalists Billy Eckstein (1914-1993) and Dakota Staton (1930-2007), pianists Earl Hines (1903-1983), Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), Erroll Garner (1921-1977), Johnny Costa (1922-1996), Dodo Marmarosa (1925-2002) and Ahmad Jamal (b.1930), saxophonist Stanley Turrentine (1934-2000), trumpeters Roy Eldridge (1911-1989) and Tommy Turrentine (1928-1997), guitarists Joe Negri (b.1926), George Benson (b.1943), Jimmy Ponder (1946-2013), and Ron Affif (b.1965), bassist Ray Brown (1926-2002) and drummers Kenny Clarke (1914-1985), Art Blakey (1919-1990), Joe Harris (b.1927), Roger Humphries (b.1946), and Jeff “Tain” Watts (b.1960).

 

The contributions of these individuals to American music have been immense—expanding the language of composition, arrangement, and improvisation. Billy Eckstein led one of the first big bands to explore the emerging language of bebop. Billy Strayhorn is recognized as one of the great American composers and indispensible to the development of Duke Ellington’s band. Ahmad Jamal brought a new sensibility to the piano and small band arrangements that have influenced generations of artists. George Benson’s flawless technique and melodic sensibility on guitar has secured his place as one of the instruments great innovators. These are but a few of the great contributions of Pittsburgh musicians.